A Day With A Detective
by Tsundere-Kun
Summary: Marta finds out just how normal her life is compared to others... Rated T just because I'm not sure if some of the content would fit K or not... Warning: hinted yaoi ONE-SHOT


I wrote this for an assignment, but thought it could use more critics...so here it is. ^__^

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS FROM DEATHNOTE, PRETEAR, OR TALES OF SYMPHONIA. **smiles** Okay?

* * *

Crickets chirped, sparrows flying almost lazily overhead. Just outside, an expansive building loomed across the street of a comfy little café. Currently it was decorated all in pink, glittery décor: hearts and cupids. Sitting at one of the many pink or red coffee tables was a young girl of about seventeen. Her hair shone in the light, the sandy brown tied back into a pair of ponytails. Boot-covered feet swung back and forth, slowly becoming impatient. This girl's name was Marta Lualdi.

As it was, she was waiting for her date that was still yet to show. All her blonde friend had given to help her was a photograph, a name and a rough estimation of his age. To Marta, her date seemed mal nourished and as sleep deprived as one could get without having insomnia. He was pale with pitch black eyes shinning through, only strengthened by the dark half-circles beneath his eyes. Ryuga Hideki…this would be the first time Marta would meet a supposed genius.

"Excuse me, would you happen to be Miss Marta?" The voice seemed monotonely bored, as if Ryuga did not want to be there at all. "Yagami-kun didn't quite give me your full name so I apologize if I seem rude."

Marta, dressed in a knee length white dress, turned in her chair towards her date. Ryuga, on the other hand, was clothed by a plain white, long-sleeved t-shirt and baggy blue jeans. However that was not the first aspect of the dark-haired male Marta noted: his lack of shoes was. "Oh, no, it's…fine, Ryuga." With a slight smile exchanged between the two, Marta returned to her comfortable seat with a gesture to Ryuga to sit down across from her. And do so he did: the male sat upon the chair, huddling his knees close to his chest with bare feet making contact with the seat as well. If she found his posture strange, the girl forcibly made herself ignore it. "So, Ryuga, what kind of things are you into?"

Before he could answer, a waited stopped by their table to ask for drinks. Marta ordered cider while Ryuga a simple cup of coffee. Soon he returned, gently setting each beverage before their respective consumers. "Well, I am currently in university studying for a major in Criminal Justice and those sorts of things." His voice started out audible, but dwindled down to a slight mumble when he got into the specifics of his chosen field. As he spoke, a hand slowly but surely transported sugar cubes from their container in the table's center and into his coffee cup. The total number of cubes, Marta had kept count, was thirty-four, and counting. As such, they almost overflowed Ryuga's cup. He paused, sugar cube still held between his pointer finger and thumb, and glanced up to her eyes. "What about yourself, Marta? I must admit this is my first, well formal, date so please excuse me in advance."

Marta smiled. "I'm preparing to start university myself, actually, but my final months of high school have really been dragging on for far too long. My planned major is going to be in Communications with a minor in Interior Design. See, I've had much experience in communications and that since my father, Brute Lualdi, has asked me to help him and his staff in a few projects. He's the head of the local television and radio station. In fact, you might have heard me on the radio already." The light brunette giggled, still smiling happily at her own words. But despite her outward appearance, Marta's deepest wish was to get the heck out of the café. Why oh why did Colette think this date would turn out for the better? She made herself a mental note: never again ask that blonde friend of her's for dating advice. She could barely stand the sight of Ryuga.

From his messy midnight hair to the dark semi-circles beneath his eyes, all the way down to his bare feet that she, thankfully, couldn't see anymore. "But anyway, um…do you like sugar that much? You're bound to get a cavity if you continue on like that you know." Marta's hand made its way across the table, only to pause midway since black eyes bore into her steadily.

"I suggest you not do that," Ryuga stared, unblinkingly at Marta's sky blue orbs. "The last one to take my sweets away ended up in the emergency room, Miss Marta." His mouth tilted up into an empty smile, for the action did not reach his eyes in the slightest. "If you value your life, leave it be."

She shuddered, the feeling of ice running down the female's spine. Her eyes directed themselves to his hand that still held a cube between its fingers, just so she wouldn't have to look at Ryuga's face. As she did, it dropped onto the already tall pile of sugar. "So, uh…what kinds of things do you like, Ryuga?"

"One would think that obvious, wouldn't you think?" The dark-haired, coal-eyed male responded evenly, gesturing slightly to his beverage. But, just to make sure the girl didn't get too depressed, he continued. "I also enjoy tennis, cake, detective work, especially difficult cases, puzzles, and, since I doubt I'll ever meet you again, Light."

All but the final listing Marta understood, but if he enjoyed light so much, why was he that pale? "You said you like the light, but that doesn't make any sense, Ryuga."

Seemingly interested, Ryuga straightened a bit from his hunched over posture. "Is that so?"  
Marta nodded confidently, regaining her composure after such an abrupt shock. "You're really pale, so obviously you don't spend much time in outside in the light." Her tone seemed that she was so sure of herself.

Truly smirking in a way that made it seem he knew something she did not, the dark male remained silent for a while. Eventually their waiter came by to ask for food orders, and, true to his word, Ryuga chose to dine on dishes that were mainly sugar based, while Marta picked a healthy salad with a small side of Italian dressing and French fries. When their waiter returned with the food chosen, he made one of the worst mistakes in his teenage life. "So, are you two lovebirds out on a date to celebrate Valentine's Day?"

Ryuga didn't bother to look up from his mound of sweets. "No, we're not. We're just here, suffering with the pink decorations for the fun of it." He glanced quickly towards the formally dressed male's name tag. "Mister Geo Castinger."

If it wasn't for the way he spoke, Geo would probably have responded. As it was, he shot Marta a puzzled look briefly before fleeing their table.

"He was just trying to be nice, Ryuga." All she got in response was a short shrug, her dining companion digging delightfully into his food. Sighing, Marta picked up her fork and started on her salad, the other drizzling a small amount of dressing atop the greens and tomatoes.

An uncomfortable silence fell upon them, constricting the female's mental train from proceeding as it normally did. They continued that way for quite some time, almost up until the point the pair's food had been completely consumed.

During this span of time, the dark Hideki noticed odd behaviors coming from a male of about the age of twenty-eight. This being wore a three piece business suit the shade of the sky, complementing his hair in a way the male should not have even thought of on his own. The man had been watching Ryuga and his acquaintance for quite a while. Faintly the pale one suspected the elder to be scheming something evil.

Moments later, the pair of awkward young diners finished eating their meal. As Ryuga expected, the strange man's eyes remained on either Marta or himself. The only problem was that he couldn't tell which one of them was the target. Although he figured, either way, they would find out soon enough.

"Ryuga, watch it!" Marta warned, side-stepping a small, thin object as it whirled by the two of them. She turned towards the middle-aged man, demanding in a tone the girl rarely ever used. "Who are you and what do you want?"

Disregarding her completely, he lunged towards Ryuga as quickly as if he were a cannon ball shot straight out of a cannon. Surprisingly to both of them, as well as the bystanders surrounding the trio, Ryuga seemed to slip just out of the male's grasp. Certainly there was more to him than let on, but there was a time and a place to ask about that: now was not that kind of time or place. Marta knew that, so she decided to stay back and watch the events unfold.

As she did, Ryuga stood behind their unexpected attacker and wrapped his right arm completely around his neck, whispering something to him in a flurry of words. "Tell me your name and why you're trying to capture me or my companion."

Gasping while struggling to duck his chin inside the younger male's appendage, the man replied. "I am Linder Tenoh of the ICPO. I was told to locate and take L Lawliet into custody."

"L Lawliet, you say?" Ryuga repeated, still making sure only the man could hear his statement. "You are sorely mistaken, for neither of us is he."

Linder mumbled something that sounded to Ryuga as if he said "you certainly look like him" as he maneuvered away slightly, hooking the dark teen's leg in order to try and throw him off. This took the younger by surprise, for he didn't think the ICPO's agents were that capable of thinking without their leader's help. He tackled Ryuga, taking advantage of the fact he was already on the ground, and placed both palms on either side of the messy dark head of hair. The ICPO agent whipped out a photograph of the one whose name was supposedly L Lawliet. Strangely enough, the image mirrored Ryuga's appearance exactly.

Ever the calm, serious one, the teenager's expression didn't waver from its usual one: unreadable as a concrete block. "I assure you, Linder Tenoh, that is not my name. It is Ryuga Hideki, not L Lawliet," his tone mesmerized Linder, the male's chocolate eyes clouding over slightly as he nodded.

"Fine," the brunette concluded, releasing Ryuga by getting to his feet; a hand offering to help the younger of the two up. "I'll believe you this time, Mr. Hideki, but if we meet again…" His statement had purposely been left hanging in the air, the expression on his face a good enough hint to the pale teen. The agent departed silently, passing through the crowd of couples that had postponed their own outings to watch the pair's short match.

Ryuga turned his entire body to face his sandy-haired date, barely any emotion showing through his features as the boy shuffled towards her; back slightly hunched and hands shoved into this jeans' pockets. "That should take care of things. Come, let's go." He didn't even wait for a response from Marta before the palest diner present began exciting the café's perimeters.

She was going to follow him when the fact that they hadn't paid for their food came to the surface of her mind. Grumbling to herself, Marta returned to the coffee table and carefully placed their bill, plus a nice tip, beneath her plate. As she finally imitated her date's actions, the couples still looked on in interest. "Wow, it's like a real soap opera," one of the various females murmured in both awe and excitement. "I wonder what that guy is to her…Her father, perhaps? Or maybe an older brother." The girl ignored them all, her mind focused on finding Ryuga and demanding what had just happened.

* * *

Minutes later, that's precisely what took place on the corner of Jhoto and East 35th Street. Marta fumed, completely enraged at their "date". "What the heck was that, Ryuga?! Did you pay that guy to do this just so you could skip out on our date early?" She seethed, glaring openly at the white-covered back of Hideki, Ryuga. Her blue eyes almost glowed with rage, the tone of her voice becoming more and more furious. "Do you hate me that much? How could you know what I was like without even meeting me first? Why won't you an—?!"

"Please, stop yelling," while he interrupted her ranting, the obsidian-haired male turned to face her, his posture as curved as it always was. Appearing less bored than he had before, Ryuga stared directly into Marta's eyes: coal connecting with sky. "I have never met that man in my life, and I do not hate you. It is simply I have no interest in dating—"

"Me, right?" She snapped, putting words in his mouth.

His head shook only a few inches each way, as if he were too tired, or lazy to complete the full motion. "I was going to say 'women', actually."

Marta froze, her jaw lowering only slightly in surprise. He was…gay? Then why did his friend set him up on a date with a female? Unless… "Does this 'Yagami-kun' you mentioned earlier know this?" He shook his head in the same manner as before. "Oh." The feeling of running into a brick wall hit her right in the face. No wonder what he had said didn't make sense at the time. He said he liked sweets, tennis, cake, detective work, difficult cases, puzzles, and _Light_. That's what he meant. Only when the girl thought back to the conversation Colette and she had days ago did it make any sense what-so-ever. The blonde had mentioned that her friend from university had been hoping to find his best friend a girlfriend. Colette's friend, who just so happened to be, named Light Yagami. "Ryuga, you said before that you like Light. Did you mean the person or the thing?"

The dark-haired male remained silent for a moment, staring at her until deciding to turn his back to her. "This is not the time for that. We have a date to continue." She does not need to know that information.

Well, that was awkward. Marta felt as if she was tiptoeing on hot coals around the other, and it was all due to him. Sure, it was nice to know, but why even agree to go out with her if he knew that he said was true? Perhaps this was a test. A test for himself to see if what he thought to be true was true. The young teen allowed herself to follow the other out into a park. They traversed, sides by side, in silence. Marta was quiet because she didn't know quite what to say and Ryuga because he liked the calm atmosphere.

He paused near the stream that ran throughout the park, barely making any sound as he crouched there. Absentmindedly, Ryuga picked up a stick with two fingers and began doodling in the dry earth. Once again, Marta tried not to show she was affected by his strange way of doing things. Instead she copied him, in a way, and sat down upon the ground: her legs bent to her side in a way that made them appear to be a mermaid's tail instead of human legs. Upon taking a closer look at what he was writing, she noted that it was a series of what seemed to be nonsense.

"What's a 'Kira'?"

Almost immediately, a flash of pale skin passed over the writings and doodles. It wiped the areas around Ryuga as clear as they previously had been. "Sorry…homework." His iris-less-seeming eyes turned on her. "Anything you'd like to talk about? School, extracurricular activities, food, something you'd like to do today…?"

"How about we take turns talking about ourselves? That way, we'll each leave today knowing more than we did before this date," Marta suggested, her spine unconsciously straightening an action to make sure it stays in good alignment. "It could be fun…you go first, okay?"

Ryuga stared silently, eyes unfocused in assumed thought. "My name in Ryuga Hideki. I am eighteen years old, born with black hair and eyes. My hobbies include tennis, reading, and sleeping. When it comes to food, I like cake, strawberries, and most sweet things. Violence, murder, deceit, so basically evil actions, appall me. Despite my appearance I am very considerate of hygiene, but there are certain things that I draw the line at. Obsessive-compulsive individuals who wash their hands every few minutes would fall within that category. Articles such as socks and shoes hold no real purpose, thus I wear them only when I must." Practically the entire time he spoke, his tone disturbed Marta a bit, for the pitch rarely wavered from the monotone the university student had used when he had first spoken to her. In fact, Ryuga sounded almost bored. He made her reconsider her choice of activity. "…Your turn."

"B-but that didn't tell me much that I didn't already know," she protested, her hands opening as her elbows bent and her palms soon rested on her hips. Only a shrug was given as a response, slightly annoying Marta. "Fine. My name, as you know, is Marta Lualdi; daughter of Brute Lualdi. This year will be my final year of high school before I am to go onto university. I am seventeen and my best friend is Colette Brunel. My original hair color was more of a chocolaty brown, but it has lightened due to the large amount of sun I get every day. The most important aspect of my personality is probably the fact that I try to keep as healthy as I can and eat accordingly. I like fruits, especially pomegranates, and…ramen. Anyway," she stood as she continued, but kept her gaze on Ryuga. "It's getting pretty late already. How about you walk me home and that will be that?" What a lame excuse for a date. . .

Nodding, the male's knees straightened themselves to their usual state before Ryuga began slowly making his way back the way he came. "Come on then…" His bare feet made barely any sound despite the obvious lack of lifting his feet as he walked. "Ramen-lover," he muttered basically to himself.

Tired and cranky, Marta pretended not to hear anything negative that may come from her date's mouth. As she wanted to do was get home, and get some rest for the next day. After all, it was a school night and the female really needed to finish a take-home test…that she hadn't even started.

Eventually, the pair stood on the doorstep of the Lualdi household. Marta turned to face Ryuga, her expression just barely able to be seen in the glow of the lamplight. "I'm sorry it turned out this way, Miss Lualdi." The dark-haired teenager's head lowered slightly, eyes still making contact with her's. "I didn't intend for you to have such a—"

"N-no, it's okay," the female shook her head rapidly, smiling. "As it turns out, I really had fun today. I'm happy we met, Ryuga." Her right hand rose in hopes of shaking his hand in parting.

The pale one nodded, both hands remaining safely within his pockets. "Yes…good night." Turning, Ryuga started on his way home, to a small apartment he shared with his best friend and his girlfriend: Misa Amane.

When he arrived home, it was a silent and careful thing to do, for he assumed the two of them to already be asleep in their separate bedrooms. Ryuga strode lazily through the hallway before him, swiveled to his left only slightly in order to just barely cut the corner and to his room. Unfortunately, the door creaked open. As a result, the sounds of rustling sheets met his ears. "Sorry, Yagami-kun, it took us a while to get back."

Sitting up, a small amount of moonlight reflecting off his light brown hair, Light stared at the other through half-lidded eyes. "No, it's fine, Ryuuzaki. I wasn't really asleep…I find I can't rest until I know you and Misa are here, sleeping safely in your beds." The eighteen years that he has lived through don't show in the slightest, as he still seems to be the age of a high school second year.

With a shrug, Ryuuzaki, or Ryuga as it is his usual alias, shuffled to his twin-sized bedside across the room from Light. A hand pulled back the covers and, right after the teen slipped in between them, they returned to where they had been before; only there was a human-sized bump beneath them.

"Hey, how did it go, anyway?" Light's inquisitive tone wondered. "Do you think Marta and you will be going out again any time soon?"

"No, it…did not go that well after all."

Light tilted his head in his roommate's direction, his expression almost unreadable due to the dim lighting. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." What he said was true; Ryuuzaki could hear it in his voice. Absolutely no doubt in his mind that Light had lied to him. "Perhaps…she just wasn't your soul mate, huh? But don't worry, you'll find your's someday."

"I think I already have…" The contrasting shades of his skin and hair made the blackness of his eyes stand out even more, until pale eyelids fell to cover them in almost slumber. And mine's not female.

The brunette's ears twitched slightly, his head rising off the soft, down pillow about two or three inches. "What was that?" He pondered, bangs falling off to the side due to gravity. "I couldn't really understand what you just said."

"I said 'good night, Yagami-kun'," he lied smoothly, mentally cringing for having to do so, just so his best friend didn't freak out. After all, he knew Light so well, it would have been surprising to Ryuuzaki if he didn't after the revelation.

With a murmured reply of "good night to you too," Light drifted off into dreamland, where he dreamed of fluffy bunnies and kittens…or so he wished. Where as Ryuga simply laid in his bed, hoping he would fall asleep soon, but didn't really think he would. Insomnia really does get annoying at times.

* * *

Yes, I know Ryuzaki is actually 25 or so, but I thought it'd be really creepy for a 17 year old to go out with someone that old...so please don't make any negative comments about it, okay?


End file.
